Information on the website of an online travel agency such as Expedia,Travelocity, etc.

42

46

38

Information in a company or destination website

42

33

33

Information in travel brochures

32

29

32

Articles in newspapers and magazines or programs on TV and radio

37

30

30

Reviews you have read in an online advisory site such as TripAdvisor.com

n/a

26

27

Reviews you have read on a blog

24

20

22

Information in travel advertising

19

13

14

For agents, status quo is not a bad thing

By Nadine Godwin

Travel agents can certainly take some comfort in the latest consumer re- search undertaken among active lei- sure travelers. The results are strik- ingly similar to those reported a year
ago, suggesting that retailers are hanging onto
their share of the consumer’s travel dollar in the
troubled economy.

The Leisure Travel Monitor reported that among
air travelers who booked a hotel stay for at least one
leisure trip last year, 28% reported using a conven-

tional travel agency for a portion of their travels,
about the same as the previous year. On average,
they used agents for 10% of their travel.

To further illuminate these data, Travel Weekly
requested a further breakout by spending.

The results show that leisure travelers who used a
travel agent spent 43% of their travel dollars at brick-and-mortar agencies, and another 5% of those dollars were spent with a home-based agency.

Supplier websites accounted for just under a
quarter (24%) of leisure travel dollars, and another
11% of those dollars were spent at websites operat-

See AGENTS on Page 12

Travelers trust their friends and family more than anyone when it comes to recommendations for leisure travel. The differ- ence between the high ratings given to these informal advis- ers and the next-most-trusted
sources, guidebooks and travel agents, is striking.

On the other hand, unless Cousin Millie is a
travel agent as well as a relative, prospective travelers still have to turn to other sources to make their
purchases, and there still seems to be considerable
confidence in travel agents.

Here are this year's stats: 79% of leisure travelers
said they were extremely or very confident in the
recommendations of friends and family, whereas
50% said the same about guidebooks and 45%
said the same about travel agents.

In fact, according to the 2009 Leisure Travel
Monitor, consumer confidence in guidebooks and
agents rose in the last year from 44% and 40%, respectively, reversing losses of the previous year.

In the case of information found at online travel
agency sites, however, 46% of leisure travelers were extremely or very confident in the source a year ago, but
that portion dropped significantly, to 38% this year.

As for the remaining information sources, leisure travelers expressed high degrees of confidence
as follows: company or destination website, 33%;
travel brochures, 32%; articles in the consumer
media, 30%; reviews in online advisory sites like
TripAdvisor.com, 27%; reviews in blogs, 22%; and
travel advertising, 14%.

In the past decade, traveler confidence in allsources has slipped, when measured against com-parable research in 2000. At that time, 51% saidthey were extremely or very confidentin agent recommendations. Otheroptions, measured at the time, weregiven votes of confidence as follows:travel brochures, 42%; informationon a company or destination web-site, 40%; stories in consumer media,39%; and travel advertising, 30%.On the other hand, in roughly thesame time period, the influence ofagents rose among those who usedtraditional agents to book air traveland accommodations. In this year’sMonitor, 62% of such clients saidSee CONFIDENCE on Page 10